Wala Kang Karapatan! UP’s David to Duterte: Let the Congress decide if ABSCBN’s should be renewed

University of the Philippines
sociology professor Randy David said President Rodrigo Duterte should
subsequently let the courts decide over the possible non-renewal of ABS-CBN
franchise.

David, who works for both ABS-CBN and
the Inquirer, said Duterte’s accusation that there’s a media conspiracy against
him is a “paranoid claim.”

“If he thinks the Prieto/Rufino
family paid a measly sum for the long-term lease of the government-owned Mile
Long and Creekside properties in Makati, he must let the courts pass judgment
on this claim. And, if he believes that the ABS-CBN does not deserve to have
its franchise renewed when it expires in 2020, let Congress, which holds the
power, decide that on the basis of fair criteria rather than on the President’s
complaint that the firm “swindled” him when it failed to air his campaign ads
after taking payment,” he said.

David said Duterte misunderstands the
media’s nature by claiming all are biased against him.

“[T]he operations of these two media
firms cannot be reduced to the economic and political interests of the Prieto
and the Lopez families that respectively own them. To argue otherwise would be
not only to mock the professionalism of the countless journalists who have
built these two reputable media companies into what they are today; it is also to
be blind to the complexities of today’s mass communication systems,” he said.